Persona 5: How to Fool a Chariot
by ahugebox
Summary: As fall break rolls around and Akira comes back to Tokyo, Ryuji seems a little different from his usual self. After Ms. Kawakami puts Akira on his case, Akira does his best to help his best friend from the trials and tribulations of an ordinary high school life while facing his own "unique" set of problems.
1. 1: Homecoming

**Subject:** Re:Re:AKIRA'S WELCOME HOME CREW!  
 **From:** SQUAD! (-akira ofc)

 **man w/ plan:** HARU did you get him yet  
 **nerd:** dude relax xD u at Lb rn?  
 **nerd:** Stg Ryuji ur names are so bad.  
 **foxy grandpa:** I'm going to arrive late. It seems as if my train fare sprouted wings and flew away.  
 **can finally squat 70 kg!:** yusuke no! weve already been here for hours :(  
 **man w/ plan:** HARU DID U GET HIM  
 **Makoto.:** Yes, they're in the limo right now. Quit texting her, it's the first time she's seen him in weeks.  
 **man w/ plan:** perfect, me and ann just cleaned up the attic

 **nerd:** don't let her see that, it's ann and i :P  
 **foxy grandpa:** Haru, if you're reading this, make sure Akira doesn't see it.

Haru's phone kept rattling, but it's impossible to grab her attention while Akira's around. Begrudgingly letting his hand go to grab the mug of coffee, she giggled as Akira sipped her own personal blend. "Tastes even more amazing than last time! You must've added…" Thoughtfully playing with a small tuft of hair, Haru felt like she was falling in love all over again. It was the little things: his hair, him without glasses, his blazers, their coffee games, and even the dorky pet names he came up for her. Anybody with eyes, except maybe Ryuji, could plainly see that this relationship was going to last a long time.

"SHB, right? It's got just a _hint_ of chocolate." Carefully placing the mug back onto the repurposed champagne bar, Akira turned to give Haru a small kiss, but instead was face to face with an angry pout. Remembering to put underneath the cup, he gave an embarrassed laugh and watched the adorable pout turn back into a smile.

"Yeah, Sojiro told me to lay easy on the Blue Mountain! He said my blends are always too sweet and some Central American beans should really emphasize the flavor profile!"

"You're too sweet," Akira said, brushing his head against hers just as a cat would. She smiled, and changed to a faux angry tone. "From all I said, that's all you got? It's a good thing you're pretty." Sticking her tongue out at Akira, she was surprised but satisfied to feel him pull her waist gently closer.

"We haven't seen you for two whole weeks. That's a _really_ long time for Shakespearean standards." As the couple shared some friendly, dorky banter, Morgana thwacked Makoto's arm to grab her attention. The two sat shotgun, with a movable partition separating the cab from the actual limo. Knowing she couldn't reply, Morgana dropped a rather paternal speech, ending it with, "You're such a mature woman. Neither of you let it get between you or the group, it's crazy."

Everyone knew. Even Ryuji knew, who was surprisingly supportive. Before moving out to college, Makoto admitted to Haru that she loved her boyfriend, but that shouldn't stop them from remaining best friends. And it didn't. As a show of good faith, Haru even paid all application expenses for Makoto's dream college. It remained a secret between the two until Ann noticed the girls hanging out more often, which led to Futaba and Morgana learning about it, and Morgana's big mouth educated poor Yusuke and Ryuji.

Being the country boy who knew nothing about women or love, Akira didn't notice. All the nights he spent telling Makoto about the older women in his life that hit on him told her that he can't catch subtleties. His poor teacher, doctor, and even a journalist were all lead on by his shitty understanding of how flirting works. Writing off as city girls being much crazier than those in the country, he never knew a thing.

Peacefully padding down the well-loved stairs of Leblanc, Ryuji groaned and tossed the blackened mop towards the curry sink, affectionately named for how he often forced his head under its running water to dilute the spicy but oh-so-worth-it pain. Trailing after him, Ann retired in the closest booth to lay her head on the table. Her peace was short lived.

"Damn it, why do I always have to do all the work? Cleaning up for Akira was your idea, but I'm left with the heavy lifting!" Taking the seat next to her, Ryuji aimed his anger at the air, knowing damn well Ann was not listening. He sighed, and also dropped his thick skull to the wood for a short nap. His peace was also short lived.

An ecstatic voice teeming with geeky inflections seemed to round the corner, coupled with a gruff voice and a flash of colors definitely resembling a pimp. "When I'm a geezer, I want to be like Sojiro. He's such a pimp, I swear." Ryuji's hopes and dreams were crushed by a smack to the ear, and Ann peeled herself off the table to straighten her posture. Elders responded well to little things like that.

Geeking out about the newest maid in Akihabara's cafe, Futaba leaped in front of Sojiro to open the door. "M'lady," she snickered while tipping her imaginary top hat to her beaming father. It was hard to make him smile, if your name wasn't Futaba. He called it "narrowing your scope": as people age, the less they care about the cruel world, and the more they care about the paradise they spent their life building around them. Akira's friends (and Akira himself) used to be seen as a nuisance encroaching on his oasis in the shitty world, but they've slowly built themselves into it. Greeting the two tucked away in the furthest booth with a smile, Sojiro announced, "Quit making out and get the curry pot washed. They're getting here in a few hours."

Ann's defiance of his implication was cut short by Ryuji jumping to his feet, exclaiming "You got it, Boss," with a voice two octaves lower than how he spoke to her. Futaba picked up her slack, and scolded the pink pimp taking his hat off with "Give them some time, Dad! You can't rush my OTP like that!" Once a party support, always a party support.

The following hours were spent frantically preparing for Akira's return. Ryuji set Operation: Arrival in motion, but spent the limited time raving like a lunatic, swearing that everything was going to go wrong. As Sojiro apprenticed Ann in the art of cooking the perfect curry, Futaba siphoned her stash of junk food hidden under her bed to one of the booths. One one of her later trips, she finally found Yusuke, and scolded Inari for being late. Gracefully accepting the weight of his actions (he had spent train fare on buying a rather beautiful rock that reminded him of a shiba), the slender artist pinned up the self-commissioned posters to welcome Akira back.

As the massive amount of curry was finally allowed to rest, Ryuji's raving started to reach a fever pitch. "Where the hell's the limo? Oh man, they're not texting us. I bet that damn furball stole their phones!"

"He's not even here yet and you're already arguing with him." Yusuke was expecting some backlash for voicing his observation, so he wasn't particularly surprised by the almost electric glare Ryuji sent his way. Why did everything with Ryuji have to become confrontational?

About to explode from the stress of planning Akira's return for the fall break, Ryuji took a menacing step towards Yusuke. Nothing ever turned violent before, but Yusuke lived in fear of having his ass kicked by Skull, and losing their Personas did not change that.

Maybe the violence gave the Thieves a physical outlet for their metaphysical issues, and losing that began to bottle their stress up. Maybe their strength needed some flexing. Maybe the testosterone with nowhere to go forced their hands, but Yusuke and Ryuji were standing shoulder to shoulder (more like Ryuji's shoulders to Yusuke's armpits), with the ever present threat of both being kicked out by Sojiro. Unfazed, Boss watched the two. He knew how boys worked: always fighting for dominance, trying to flex for the ladies watching, always nitpicking on something the other had done _a tiny bit_ wrong. If they didn't do this, this tension was going to fester, and something even worse would happen.

Ann was fazed, however, and tugged at Ryuji's arm. "Hey, this isn't about you! It's about Akira! Are you really going to waste all of our effort because of some petty comment?"

Silence filled the air. The two boys didn't break eye contact. Whoever broke first lost.

"It's not about you Ryuji! It never is!" Deafening his right ear, Ann tugged at Ryuji to take a step back.

Sighing, he decided to lose. His tense face and fight-or-flight body had lost to his unwavering loyalty. The only thing more important than Ryuji was Akira. "Shit man, I'm so sorry. I got caught up in a whole lot of nothing. Yusuke, I'm sorry for always being so petty. I really do treat you like shit sometimes."

"At least you're not afraid to admit it. Acceptance is the first step to rehabilitation." After pausing for a moment, Yusuke thoughtfully added on, "And I'm sorry too. I know you've been putting in the maximum effort to ensure Akira enjoys his stay here, and I haven't even done so much as a third of that. This is important for you, and I should respect that."

Done with letting the guys hog the spotlight, Futaba chimed in from her safety spot behind the staircase wall. "Empathy up for Ryuji, and patience up for Yusuke! Pack it up noobs, we've only got an hour left!"

The hours in the limo were less torturous than Makoto assumed they'd be. Although they were affectionate with each other verbally, Makoto never had to watch them kiss after the first hour, and they all shared a lovely rapport with coming back to the city.

Waving a sweet goodbye to the driver, Haru hugged Akira's arm and urged him to follow Makoto on the short walk to Leblanc. Her rather busy schedule with the company made travelling less of a vacation and more of a job, so she found solace in Akira's arms. "I haven't been here in a whole month, since the last board meeting! It's been even longer for you though, so let's make this trip count while we still have it!" Gripping his arm a little tighter, Haru stopped him on the backstreets of Yongen, just a minute away from the cafe. "Stay right here, okay? No moving!" Meandering off, a bell rang as Makoto and Haru shared some quiet words and they stepped foot into his old home.

Inconspicuously looking over both shoulders, Akira did his best to look like a normal human being while meowing. It took a couple of strange stares before Morgana piped up on a gutter across from him. "I finished casing the place, Joker. Our old room is spotless! I could hear Ryuji's screams from the window, so it seems like something inside is going crazy."

Nodding as not to look insane talking to a cat, he mulled over his options. Proceed with the plan, or listen to Haru?

Obedience wasn't half as fun.

Walking through the batting cages he spent time building up his proficiency, he noted the attic windows burnt into his memory, opened up by Ann who probably didn't want the room smelling like wood furnishing. Noting his rather high infiltration point, Akira tossed his bag up to the first story roof and used the chain link to sprawl up the wall. All the training in his room and work as a Phantom Thief gave him rather solid parkour skills, which sadly went to waste.

Silently scrambling through the window to not be caught as a thief, Morgana snickered as he finally stepped foot in Leblanc. Quietly recounting the plan, he batted his tail against a sweaty Akira. "Operation White Window has been a success! Now, all we have to do is nab the mask and thank the dumb blond monkey for putting in all this work on our welcome home party!"

Padding over to the house plant that Yusuke intensely insisted on naming Sun Sipper, Akira lifted the base and pulled out a paper mask resembling his black mask during his Joker days, a gift from Yusuke during his detention in prison. Gracefully catching the nude statue he was about to knock over, Akira prepped the show. Morgana clambered up his back, and the showstopping duo was about to make their appearance.

Stepping down the stairs, he could hear Futaba's panic. "H-hey Inari, I'm hearing steps! Check it out!" Yusuke murmured in response, but a fool is never late to the party. Holding the paper mask in a faux shounen manga pose to cover his eyes, Akira's leader voice came out, courtesy of a certain local politician.

"Ryuji Sakamoto! In exchange for throwing me an amazing welcome home party, I have come to steal your heart!"

The room began to boom. Although Futaba was the closest to the staircase, Ryuji's legs carried him over to Akira first. "Dude, you're home! Hell yeah!" Locking him in a solid bear hug, Ryuji actually beamed when he saw Morgana. "Mona, you dumbass cat! Welcome back, I missed you too!"

Pleasantly surprised, the rest of Leblanc became a furiously paced meet-n-greet, where Akira reconvened with all his fellow ex-Thieves with hugs. Futaba was enamoured by the entrance he had made, Yusuke delighted that he kept the mask, Ann insisting he tried the curry, and Sojiro glad he only had one kid. Seven and a cat would drive him more nutty than Blue Mountain.

It was like he never left.

As the party continued on, the girls had begun to leave and enjoy the rest of their night. Ryuji walked Ann to the station and marched right back, and Sojiro waited to take Futaba home to make sure Haru actually went home today. She did, escorting Makoto to the high rise they'd be calling home for the rest of break.

"You guys really cleaned the hell out of here. I really appreciate it." Akira wasn't wrong: all the dust Kawakami moved around the room with her duster was all gone thanks to Ryuji's mopping. He didn't even bother putting away the room's rather hilarious decor: from the ramen bowl Ryuji got, to the fondue machine from the rich buffet where they remet Shido, everything was still in place.

"Alright, Ryuji definitely wasn't the one cleaning up the place." Almost offended for a second, he let Akira finish the thought. "My Risette poster is still up." The two shared a loud laugh, to which Yusuke was confused.

"Risette? A type of electronic used in the 1990s?" Morgana was just as confused, but had the tact to not say anything. Getting either one of the guys started on Risette was going to end up in an hour long conversation where two kinda-sorta-taken men would gush about their mutual celeb crush.

Cracking his knuckles, Ryuji looked over to his partner in crime who had just finished cracking his neck. "Take a seat, because you're in for a ride, Yusuke! Risette is the goddamn cutest woman in Japan. Look at that Sapphire poster over there. My god, she's adorable. Last summer, the only thing that could top her photoshoot was-"

Saving Ryuji from shooting himself in the foot, Akira interrupted him with a melancholic tone. "She's dating someone from Inaba, apparently her high school sweetheart. It's a shame, cause-"

Yusuke chimed in again, with sheer lack of tact that would make even Futaba cringe. "She looks like Ann."

Silence filled the air. Yusuke decided to break it. "That's why you like Risette, yes? Because she looks like our beautiful Lady Ann?"

Ryuji went red. Morgana began to cackle, to which Ryuji started waving his hand threateningly. A cacophony of "furball" and "kill you" ensued, and laughter at his expense filled the room. His partner, who always seemed to have his back, chimed in to say, "Ryuji's got more of a shot than Morgana, at least." Now that the tables have turned, Morgana plopped himself down on Akira's head, somehow mishearing his jab entirely, instead taking it as an invitation for a haircut.

"No, Mona! Haru loves my hair like this, you can't ruin it!"

"So that's why you keep it so messy! Of course a Princess wants a bad boy, that just makes sense."

"Ah yes Joker, why don't you tell us about how things are going with Haru? I've heard great things."

"If I told you Yusuke, you wouldn't want to sit on the couch anymore. Or touch the table. And I hope you haven't slept on the bed."

But, he did just that. After wrapping up their conversation about girls, they moved onto bigger and badder subjects, like how the country had a huge lack of sushi, and how Morgana surprisingly didn't shed, making him an easy friend to clean up after (he hated the term pet). After 3 AM hit, Yusuke fell asleep, Mona soon after, and all that was left was the two stars of the night.

"Thanks, man. You always do me solids."

"You broke me out of prison. It's the least I can do."

Ryuji thoughtfully placed his finger on his chin, and looked ready to argue about it. At least he did before he yawned, putting both of them in a sleep-ready mood. "Take the bed, you earned it."

"Another day, it's your first day back. I'll take the chair."

Ryuji snickered. "Thank God I wiped it down."


	2. 2: Sweatpants and Maids

**Subject:** Call me when you're up!

 **From:** Haru

 **looks good in an apron:** Akiii (づ￣ ³￣)づ

 **looks good in an apron:** Call me once you're up! I have a favor to ask!

Akira's phone rang, scaring Morgana off his favorite spot on Akira's legs. Against his own will, Akira had become a morning person, as his cat became his jailor. Every time he'd try to walk downstairs, Morgana would insist he should get the most sleep possible, resulting in Akira rising (and shining) much earlier than a normal teenager. Surprisingly enough, it ended up in his favor, as Haru had more time to call in the mornings. The tired, morning chauffeurs were much nicer than the ones ready to retire for the night.

Kicking his legs out from under the booth, he returned the morning curry that was quietly bubbling on the stove. Cooking enough for four, AKA two normal appetites and a Ryuji, Morgana gently reminded him that he should call Haru. And so he did, Haru picking up in her usual cheerful tone. "Aki! I thought you'd still be sleeping, with the boys sleeping over!"

"Morning, beautiful. And no, I forgot to bring Star Forneus with me, so after we talked about girls we went straight to sleep."

Taking a beat, Aki instinctively smirked. "I can hear you blush… And now you're pouting."

"You better not have shared the bed with Ryuji again! That's our bed!" She grumbled. To be quite honest, Ryuji was there first. But every relationship needs its secrets.

"Babe, you're a coffee growing, grenade launching sweetheart. Plus, he doesn't even wear tights with cute little stars. Minus one."

"Speaking of coffee, can you check on the soil at Shujin? I tried to make sure somebody would take care of my sprouts, but Mishima-san isn't the most reliable person…" She trailed off, with an adorable melancholic tone. They had become her babies, and she tried to find a person to pass off the torch to that would handle them with just as much grace. Ann was busy, Ryuji didn't have grace, and Futaba would probably call them noobs, so she entrusted it to poor Mishima. Finding someone eccentric enough to love plants and creating soil but not eccentric enough to blow up her work phone every day with updates was difficult, and sadly Oga wasn't quite the compromise she was looking for.

After agreeing, exchanging "I love you"s, and begging Akira to warn Ryuji to not steal her man, Haru left Akira to tend to the giant pot of curry. As the honey began to join the smell wafting up to the attic, it was a short few seconds as the conversation upstairs was cut short and the two boys shot downstairs for their grub.

"How'd you two sleep?"

"Chair's more comfy than I remember."

"I must agree. The couch was the same homey hearth as when I left the 'Sayuri' here, but… There was a rather odd smell on the right cushion."

The other two shared a chuckle, and Morgana hopped shoulders to provide Yusuke what solace he could offer.

"I don't get it."

"Yusuke, you aren't the only one to have slept there."

"Ah, I remember Ann did on the hot pot day."

"No, _slept_."

"Unrelated, but with fervor, I demand we have the udon I was refused that day."

Realizing that ignorance is bliss, Ryuji propped open the dishwasher and took out four plates, as Morgana liked to take tiny dabs of the curry. Yusuke served the rice and slathered curry onto the plates, and Akira sat in the booth's corner to text Haru with the minimal privacy he had while hanging out with the guys. Unlike the poor furball, they hadn't learned to stop looking at his texts.

"So, a guy with a criminal record starts dating one of the richest girls in Tokyo and then gets locked up. She visits him every week in prison, paying off a shitton of the legal fees. Only you Akira, only you…" Punctuating his sentence with a mischievous laugh, he continued on. "She must have you whipped."

"Isn't Ann the one with the whip? Doesn't that mean _you_ will be the whipped one?" Yusuke inquired. His bluntness knew no bounds, and Ryuji waved his spoon threateningly.

"Shut up, dude!"

Morgana finally chimed in. "Lady Ann is mine, you blond monkey!"

Tension rose and fall as breakfast progressed, and the four enjoyed their first meal together without the girls. Guy's nights were something else: they were more tight knit, not to mention they had no need to put on appearances. There wasn't a need to impress ladies or be the dominant guy, just some food and hilarious conversation.

"Maybe Ann would have been mine if Sensei didn't come home…"

"As if! We spent hours coming up with a plan just so she wouldn't have to strip for you!"

"Ah, but if I made something with the beauty of the 'Sayuri,' surely she would have fell in love with me."

Before offering his ever-present opposition to anything Morgana or Yusuke had to say, Ryuji checked his watch. His face fell forlorn, and excused himself from the table. "Heading out, thanks for the curry Akira!"

"Where are you going, buster? We still haven't settled who gets Ann!"

"Piss off, furball."

Ryuji disappeared in the morning crowd of Yongen, and the other three spent another hour in heated conversation about whether or not Morgana would be a cute girl if he wasn't some sworn guardian angel before heading out to take Yusuke to Shibuya station. "Igor's other servant was a beautiful young woman, and we have no reason to believe you would look any different."

"Are you asking me to steal your train fare?"

"You cannot steal what does not exist."

Akira sighed, and granted the holy gift of 1,000 yen onto Yusuke. He almost teared up, thanking his friend thoroughly before Akira almost forced him through the gate to make sure he used it on getting home. After Akira finally had some peace between himself and Morgana, he noticed he smelled like a teenage boy who hadn't been to the shower that day. If he was going to use a bathhouse he'd put his money on the one back in Yongen, so instead Akira decided to pay for a day at Protein Lovers.

The walk down Central was a blast of nostalgia. Each corner rich with memories of the last year. The back-alley of Untouchable with Iwai, the bookstore that helped him take Ohya out on a "date," the Big Bang Burger that his girlfriend now owned, and even the little shop where he bought his supplies for taking care of his houseplant. Tokyo was light years ahead of his hometown when it came to recreation, and Akira had something to do everyday. Most people his age would go home to do homework, maybe leave the house twice a week. Having an erudite education made classes trivial, so he spent every single day doing something.

The budget to support that lifestyle was incredibly high. The year prior, he could just appropriate Phantom Thieves funds for his own personal rock salt collection, bathing, and book collection. Without his lucrative profession, his attitude to never waste a day began to creep onto his wallet. Fortunately, Haru had more than enough money to treat him whenever they'd spend time together, so Akira unconsciously took advantage of Haru's thick wallet to enjoy every last bit of freedom he earned with his hands. Money didn't even come into the equation when his teenage mind began its tirade on her: all he could see was her smile. That smile could drive men to do insane things, such as surviving two months in prison without a single complaint.

"Hey, quit dreaming. You're about to walk into a pole." His thief reflexes rounded the pole easily, but Akira realized how out of touch with his surroundings he could be. He spent the whole day thinking about seeing her again, when he could be focussing on reconnecting with all his past links. Love was a strange thing.

Pushing past Protein Lover's door, Akira paid for a day at the gym. The brunette behind the counter smiled at him and innocuously pointed out, "Welcome back! You haven't come in with Sakamoto-kun in months!"

After explaining moving out to the country, the wonderful woman behind the counter seemed relieved. "I'm glad you two are still friends! He comes in a lot with the model, you'd never even know he had his leg injured!"

Draping the sweat towel across his neck, Akira let Morgana kill the short hour with his phone, refusing to lock the locker this time. Putting himself back on the treadmill, the long strides of a Phantom Thief came back to him, easily wrapping up a six kilometer run. As he stepped off the machine sweat shook from his body and rained down to the floor. It had been far too long since his last visit to a gym, and the runner's high had convinced him to become a regular again. Remembering the regimen that Ryuji drew up for him a few months ago, Akira decided leg day would be the easiest day to coax his body back into, and set up the squatting racks towards the front of the store.

Scaling walls and jumping up ridiculously high places took leg strength, his specialty. Setting up 90 kg on both ends, Akira carefully dropped his glasses next to his water and began the arduous process of moving heavy plates up and down. In the middle of his second set, a familiar face came through the doors.

"Akira!" Ann forgot about the check-in desk and ran over to her old friend. After a rather sweaty hug, Akira noticed the fruits of her labor. She said her goal was the slim down and tone her body, and she had done just that. Shedding her old workout pants and jacket, she threw on a rather American set of tight fitting pants and sports bra.

"Wipe. Your. Nose."

"Sorry."

Akira stained the loaned towel red, but he was sure any male employee would understand his plight. "You look great!" He stumbled out. Not a great recovery, but anything would be better than the awkward silence.

"Yeah, Ryuji and I come here together. It pushes me to work harder, that's for sure. Working through his limp to get ten kilometers done in one sitting was amazing to watch. He's my inspiration for sure!"

"Didn't come with you today?"

"Oh, cause he's at-" Ann silenced herself with a red face. "He's busy! He's busy."

Now they both made the conversation awkward. Telling her to check in, Akira finished his set of squats by himself, and did a light jog as Ann began her workout. She had no troubling pacing her breathing, and the tempo of her steps were well controlled. Ryuji had definitely put a lot of time into teaching her proper form, just as he did with Akira. Feeling just tad bit less special, he stopped his mild jog as Ann crossed her third kilometer.

"So what are you doing after this?" She inquired.

"Haru asked me to check up on her old plants, so I'll be heading out to Shujin." His mop head was getting full of salty water, so he _definitely_ had to take a shower. Sadly forgetting to bring a change of clothes, Akira contemplated aloud about buying new clothes.

"You're in luck! I've got some sweatpants Ryuji gave to me. He always preaches to me about how putting on old underwear is a pain, so you can just put those on." Akira was taken slightly aback. Wow, they had become amazingly close, and she offered him what she does Ryuji. His character had definitely evolved in the last few months.

"Don't give them back though. I don't want Haru or Makoto getting any ideas…"

"Makoto?"

Ann's face painted red again, and continued on about some other rambling. "If you're going to visit Shujin, you better get going. Kawakami would let you in, and she's going to leave at 3 PM, okay?"

Wrapping his mind around the mention of Makoto, Akira tried his best to wait outside the women's changing room without looking like a stalker. Out came Ann, who gave him the gift of Ryuji's old sweatpants. Continuing on his journey to not-smelling-like-teenage-boy, Akira opened up Morgana's locker and explained the situation. Morgana was surprisingly understanding about sitting on his delicates and the sweatpants he used to workout, so Akira hopped in the shower - using a ton of shampoo to clean his hair, in case he saw Haru today because she _really_ loved his hair - and took Ryuji's sage advice to never use the same underwear after the gym. Putting on his buddy's old sweatpants, Akira felt the breeze on his bare skin. Could be worse.

Tossing his bloody towel in the bin, Akira rolled up his sleeves, waved Ann goodbye, and walked to Shibuya Station. He didn't have anyone to impress except for Ms. Kawakami, who he paid 50,000 yen to clean his dusty old room, so he didn't feel a particular need to look presentable. City people usually didn't share the same belief, so he stuck out boarding the train, getting off the train, and every step of the way to Shujin, where he blended in awfully well.

Students his age were walking in and out of the school, without uniforms. During fall break. Never attending cram school himself, Akira thought there were only two people among their ranks: idiots who needed to make up credits, and people who wanted to leave school early. Ms. Kawakami could clear up any confusion, so he beelined it to his old classroom. The guard at the door didn't even think to ask him for his Shujin ID. So far, so good.

As he climbed up the stairs to the second floor, he spotted some familiar faces on their way down. Taking it rather slow as his hamstrings were begging him to stop, Akira made his way up the stairs at about 3:10 PM. She might already be gone, but it was worth a shot, especially since he had to check Haru's plants anyway.

Akira scrambled up to the closed door, but he could hear Ms. Kawakami's hushed voice through the awfully thin wood. "Sakamoto, you _need_ to pass this one. If you fail this cram, you won't graduate on time. And would you really want to do that to your girlfriend?"  
"Cmon, she's not my girlfriend! And I can do this, why don't you just believe in me?"

"I would believe in you if you didn't fail out of cram school last time, and didn't fail out of the normal English class. She's great at English, just ask her to help you."

"I do!"

"Sakamoto, you have to _learn_ when she tutors you. Not do… teenager things."

"You're the one that fishes on the weekends!"

Akira contemplated leaving the two to their conversation, because clearly Ryuji was trying to hide going to cram school from him. But, as fate is always pulling the strings, Mishima was at the wrong place at the wrong time. "Akira Kurusu!" Mishima's innocent voice hollered from down the corridor, definitely loud enough for them to hear. "Are you waiting for Ryuji also? Or maybe you came back to Tokyo just to flirt with Master Kawakami?"

Akira sighed, and the door he had been eavesdropping on slid wide open. "Snooping as usual, Akira?" Ryuji's face went red, and cast his glance from side to side. Clearly contemplating jumping out the window to escape this awkward confrontation, Akira walked over to Ryuji and gave him a wide palm on the back. "How's it going? We have to go check on Haru's planter."

Mishima wandered his way into the room, and Ms. Kawakami greeted her face with her palm. "You're not checking any plants with Ryuji until I'm done with them. Maybe you can help him out."

Ryuji begged, "Even Mishima? Kick him out at least!"

"Come on Ryuji, I just want to help!"

Stopping the banter, Akira just offered solace to the about-to-pull-out-her-beautiful-hair Kawakami. "Of course, Ryuji's my best friend. I'll help him out." Morgana poked his head out to refute that, locking eyes with Kawakami.

"...Meow?"

Kawakami, disappointed as ever, refused to make a huge tirade out of the situation. "Sakamoto, your mother is worried about you. Since your bus ride out of Tokyo, she said you've been different around the house. It's been showing in your grades too: a solid C in your second year slowly turned back into 50 percent. If you plan on doing anything after Shujin, you need to fix whatever's going on."

Ryuji, for once in his life, had nothing to say.

"Akira, help him out. You're all he's talked about in the last week, you owe him that much."

"Of course, Becky."

Tension rose. No words were said, but the three boys knew Akira had accidentally crossed a line, and they had to leave as soon as possible. Hell has no wrath like a maid-teacher scorned.

"Err, Master."

"It'd be just as bad for you, you know."

"Text me if you need to. We're going to check on some plants."


End file.
